Larry Kudlow and Sen. Mitch McConnell discuss what Tim Geithner knew about the AIG bonuses and when he knew it — and whether government is equipped to run businesses.
Sen. Ron Wyden explains he tried in the stimulus plan to prevent the bonuses but his amendment “didn’t get through.” Hmm. Wonder who didn’t let it through. Wyden doesn’t seem enamored of Geithner or motivated to defend him.
Harold Meyerson wants to can Geithner. Who could disagree?
Maureen Dowd’s dreamboat is a wimp, apparently: “Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad.”
The vast leftwing conspiracy reveals itself again. No it’s not surprising, but it is “creepy” and ultimately dishonest if all of these people go back to their publications and represent their leftwing-approved consensus as their own masterful insights.
Caterpillar apparently won’t be one of those places with stimulus plan “saved” jobs.
Okay, the president isn’t keeping an eye on AIG or coming up with a bank plan, but he’s a busy man. He’s filling out his NCAA bracket and going to L.A. for the Tonight Show. Priorities, people.
A comprehensive take-down of the New York Times’s effort to ignore the Chas Freeman story out of existence.
Bradley Blakeman’s take on Geithner isn’t kind, but it is accurate: “He exudes zero confidence. He was suppose to be this ‘whiz kid’ and he turned out to just be a nerd the other school kids harass for his lunch money.”
This explains (better than the ramblings of most elected conservatives) the benefits of reducing corporate income tax, contending that “repealing the corporate income tax alone, which would cost approximately $300 billion in annual tax revenue, would produce by 2012: 2 million more jobs than the baseline scenario; $280 billion more in real GDP); $4,000 more in real disposable income for a family of four; $707 billion more in household net wealth—the base of economic strength and stability.”
Headline: “VP: Obama’s job harder than FDR’s.” Well, Obama has inferior help and no executive experience so that might be right.
That Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary is well underway. Pat Toomey zeroes in on the Democrats’ efforts to get Specter to switch parties: “‘Given Sen. Specter’s voting record and the interest of senior Democrats in wooing him, it’s pretty clear that, substantively, he is a Democrat,’ Toomey told The Hill. ‘I wish he would switch to the Republican Party.'” It’ll be an interesting year.
Some Republicans think it’s not a good idea to have a non-Arabic speaking, non-expert in the Middle East as our ambassador to Iraq. Must be the Competency Lobby at work again.
Expect this to be the Republicans new mantra: personal responsibility and the freedom to fail. It shows how key context is. A year ago that would have been a meaningless platitude. Now, Democrats are saying virtually the same thing.
Your government at work: “Congressional Democrats careened between the circular firing squad and the three-ring circus Tuesday as they struggled with their new reality: playing defense on the economy.”
More comedy gold from Tapper vs. Gibbs. But it’s less amusing each day, as we realize Gibbs is covering for the administration’s incompetence.
What’s Obama’s health care plan going to cost? $1.5 trillion over the next decade. “That’s more than double the $634 billion ‘down payment’ President Barack Obama set aside for health reform in his budget, raising the prospect of sticker shock at a time of record federal spending. Administration officials have pointedly avoided providing a ballpark estimate, saying it depends on details to be worked out with Congress.” Not very transparent, huh?
